My Forum

ES - Well done, sounds like you paced that very well.  Not sure that I'm impressed with a pacer that plans a positive split.  At least he communicated it though.

Jools - Nicely back on the horse.  Any tentative autumn plans?

CC2 - Nice result and with CRAB on the thread I'm not sure that 'TMI' is possible.

CW - Suspect it was the marathon telling you not to get too cocky!  More seriously you outlined the reasons why yourself.  It's a useful reminder of the fine line between success and failure when running marathons.

KR - We met a few years ago in Birmingham.  I was the one with the Irish accent.  I would have thought that Martin H's approach when mentored by Gobi would have been the path for you.  Speed to do it is not in doubt with your 5k speed.

Lev - Nice half.  The more you race the better you get to know your limits.  Interestingly the fitter you get the closer you can push to your limits too.  I don't mean that just in the sense that you'll go faster therefore get closer to your ultimate capabilities but that you'll be able to push harder for longer.  In HR terms as you get fitter you can operate at a higher heart rate for longer.

am I here - If you could focus on getting your 10k to sub-38 (McMillan has a good specific period plan) before beginning P&D 55 - 70 18 week plan then if all went well during P&D you'd be in very good shape to go sub-3.

TT - Very nice Lydiard post from earlier. The blog (to date) doesn't suggest that you'll both be giving Amsterdam the same level of commitment but 3:28 off very little training does suggest some talent.

Brian MacGiollabhain - Follow a plan.  Advanced Marathoning by Pfitzinger and Douglas has plans in the back which have been used very successfully by many (not to mention that they explain the different types of runs available and their purpose which I suspect you'll benefit enormously from).  Runners World have some plans too although less widely successful.

Robin - Overtraining often takes several months or more of easy running only to recover from.  Targeting a half marathon 4 months from now isn't advisable. 

HR - I've been itching to do a 20 mile run for a few months now.  As others have said a good way to help maintain a bit of endurance.

April saw me run 55 miles which is slightly better than the 50 I managed in March but obviously nowhere near where I want to be.  My physio gave me some breathing exercises - I'm calling it belly breathing - and to my surprise I think that it revealed the source of my problems.  Seems I have been holding my stomach in (so as to hide it I expect ) which has been putting my pelvis in the wrong position with a consequent loss of stability.  The few runs I've done since have been the most positive in the past 18 months (not the first time I've thought I've cracked it though) and the muscles in the weak spot in my back have gotten stiff and sore from being used so I'm beginning to think that Dublin may not be out of reach after all.  Unfortunately my 2 year old has lurgified everybody in the house so am currently coughing my lungs up but should be back running again in a week or so.  Will see how it goes but will be making haste slowly.

Just realised that although I stalked the splits of half the forum and have congratulated many elsewhere I haven't said anything here.

PP - I was worried that you had started too fast but you held it together really well unlike your Irish club mate who was clearly feeling a bit frisky at the start.

Mr. B - NicePB.  Going to change anything for next time?

CW - I'm with TR on the bigger miles making the difference but you remain inspiringly bonkers.  Fantastic photo.  You should get a copy blown up as big as possible, frame it and hang it somewhere.  You'll never get a better one.

TR - Never in doubt.  One year you'll get an uninterrupted campaign and do the 2:4x.  In the meantime you're building an impressive string of 2:5x's

Pi - Perhaps a little more than most other versions of cross training it matters how good you are at skiing.  It also matters how hard you go at it.  If you're skiing instead of running it's going to have an impact but we're not professionals so I wouldn't worry about it.  Just listen to  your body and do a little less than you think you could to make sure you avoid injury.  Good idea to do the review though.  Too many move on without learning any lessons.

SL - Another very high quality result.  Anything planned for the autumn?

LS21 - I think that you can probably add mileage over time but the philosophy you espouse of building the rest of the week around the sessions is very sensible.

Dan - A 2kg pack is nuts.  Why would anybody think that a good idea?  Tough luck on the darts.  Very difficult to perform at your best in that kind of scenario - sounds like you put up a pretty good show though.

Jools - 20+ miles at marathon pace wouldn't be too far off the run that Marders did at the Toronto marathon shortly before he made a breakthrough.  Any backup plan?

TT - Great to hear that your treatment has made such a positive difference so quickly.  Fingers crossed you get it permanently sorted.  You asked if I ever got a definitive diagnosis.  Sort of is the answer.  The injury I keep getting is posterior tibialis syndrome.  It's easily fixed though so the real trick is getting to the root cause.  My physio took a video of me a couple of weeks ago and spent a fair bit of time thinking through what to do and has come up with a plan which makes sense.  The essential root cause though is a muscular imbalance in my back which means that I can't control my landing on my right foot.  I'll shut up now because it's not really that interesting and I can go on for quite a while.

Bits and pieces of training for me.  Outside of the 10k races 5 miles or so seems to be as far as I can get before my tendon starts complaining. Feeling optimistic about the latest plan though.

Simon and other non-runners: Tracking should be possible from here. 

TT: Fingers crossed you get over this one quickly and smoothly. While I can follow the logic of using the cambre I think that that might be making it a little more complicated than it needs to be.

PP : With a bit of luck you'll have another BAC'er for company on the 5:50 train at least for the first half. 

Not sure that I should do this but in the spirit of tenuosity and enigma I went to school for a year with the son of the (former?) main mover in an organisation that RB appears to be quite interested in.

My latest wheeze on the injury front is to try and strengthen my latissimus dorsi (at least that's what it was called on the diagram).  Instability in my right foot seems to be caused by that and means that I don't lift my left leg and..... I could go on for a while.  Basically I'm thinking about going back to rugby - fewer injuries....

Good luck everybody.  Don't be shit.

Well done AW - very comfortable sub-3.  Second in Marigold and Al_P's race was Peter Thompson who did the RW sub-3 thingy 2 years ago.  76 mins as a marathon pace run - just goes to show how you can kick on from these things.

Coro - Even if I know it's going to happen I still can't believe that you'll blag a decent marathon time - it should be impossible.

Al_P - Nice run yesterday - fingers crossed on your shin.  Maybe it's an old stress fracture that has now healed.

CRAB - I'd blame the plastic in the kit kats - probably explains your recent failure to leave your calling card and the extra half stone.  You'll be fine as soon as it gets through your system.

Hope Jools and others get over the lurgies/niggles shortly.

Too many other to name check but a general reminder to focus on getting to the start line now.  Resist the temptation to find out what kind of shape you're in - it can only cause harm.

Re: The discussion about the Dublin marathon and Dan's rant about African's it's worth noting that the main result of the failure to gain a main sponsor for the Dublin marathon is that they won't be paying the way of several mid-tier africans this year.  Last year the first non-African was Paul Pollock in 2:16:30 (9th place).  While I expect the Irish standard to rise slightly I would have thought that Marigold and Marders would have been in with a shout of placing pretty highly and perhaps picking up a nice prize.  Of course I'm probably not the only one to think this.

I did a grand total of 50 miles in March.  It constantly feels like I'm about to turn a corner but I've been thinking that for 18 months now so I'll be back properly when I'm actually back.  Ran the 10k in Bournemouth yesterday coming in at 46:03.  8 seconds faster than a few weeks ago but I measured the course a tad short on the Garmin which has never happened to me before.  Frustratingly I couldn't even hold tempo effort as my utter lack of endurance leaves me with sore legs today.

If you're well trained and not carb depleted you should have enough energy in your body for 90 - 120 mins.  If you're expecting to take longer than two hours and to be going at a good effort the whole way round then you will do better if you take something with you - jellies are pretty good for most people but if there's anything that you've used before on a run without any trouble you should probably take that.